zrules
Hi Zrules
Thanks for your response. Most of the posts on the Parent threads are written by the Parents to each other, not by the children. I'm convinced that it is useful for the kids to be in touch with each other as well, separately from our respective parents and their discussions with each other.
I don't believe that you need an Agent for this. Like you, what I found was that by the time I had trawled the DIMA, Centrelink and Health websites enough to be cautiously optimistic that Mum would be OK on her meds (and on the Balance of Family Test, which was also a potential problem for us because of a step-child) I had done so much that there was little point in hiring anyone to do the easy bits (the form-filling) for me.
As to the meds, I suggest a look at Austlii. Here is the link:
Choose "any of these words" in the box on the left. Then tell it 'parent visa + 4005' (without the inverted commas.) Then scroll down to Migration Review Tribunal and click on that. Then hit Search. Loads of MRT cases will come up, nearly all of them dealing with situations where the issue of whether or not the parent meets the medical criteria for migration or not has been the question that the MRT has had to decide. Public Interest Criterion 4005 is the relevant one for Parents (including contributory) and it does NOT carry a health-waiver. However, it is pretty obvious that the medical situation has to be far more serious than it seems to be for your father to cause an application to fail on medical grounds. Ignore all the interminable boiler-plate. The rubric at the top provides the gist. Go straight on down to the Evidence section. The Decision is at the very end.
I think they are likely to insist on a cardiologist's report on your father. The only thing that is likely to cause the MOC to ask questions is why your father needed an angioplasty, what the current state of his arteries is, and what the 5-10 year prognosis is. For that sort of thing, you need a cardiologist on board.
Forget anything that happened in the dim & distant past - it is not relevant now. We didn't bother with anything prior to 10 years ago with Mum. 10 years ago, she broke her back, which caused a degree of spinal chord damage which is irreversible according to Mum's neurosurgeon. It has caused partial paralysis in her legs, as a result of which she needs a zimmer-frame indoors and a wheelchair when she goes further afield. Mobility is her only real problem.
We took the neurosurgeon's report to the Panel Doctor and he sent it on to the POPC. However, the neurosurgeon's report is now 8 years old. Its only value now is that it explains the exact technical details of the injury, which only another medic would understand fully, but is saves any speculation about the exact nature and extent of it.
The MOC asked for a geriatrician's report only. We didn't have one so we had to get one. That took about 6 weeks, but we have since been told that the MOC is happy with it and that all is well.
I think that if you read a few of the cases, you will see eaxctly how the health-criteria work in practice, and I think that is likely to give you quite a bit of confidence. It did so for me.
We didn't bother with anything in relation to Mum's blood pressure. She takes the pills and it stays OK. The issue for Mum was her back-injury and the degree to which that compromises her physical independence and safety from another such injury.
I don't think that your brother becoming a citizen would make any difference, and it doesn't matter that he has only been a PR in Oz for a little under 2 years. The only thing that would matter in relation to your brother is if you need him to come in with you on the AoS, in order to get you up to the income-threshold required for butturing 2 parents. The butturer(s) MUST be able to show Centrelink a minimum of 2
The time-line for Contributory Parent visas is 12-15 months at the present. Are your Parents retired? If so, and if they would like to spend most of the processing period in Australia, then the sub-clbutt 676 visa is a good one to consider. Better than the 90-day ETA in my view. Here in the UK, the information about that is all on the Australian High Commission website, along with Forms 26 & 160 which are the medical forms.
If your parents are in the US or Canada, try the Australian High Commission-Embbutty website in the relevant jurisdiction. The last thing you need is to use forms from London only to be told the forms for Canadian residents are different!
You sound to me as if you understand the whole thing very well. I think you can easily help your parents without needing to get an Agent to do it all for you. The good thing about doing it yourself is that if the POPC want anything, you know straightway. We are geared up for same-day action from us in relationship to anything the POPC might want from us. Also, we don't have to put up with anyone trying to nanny us with the whole thing. It is VERY hard work on your own, but you know that already.
Mum's application has been running since 29th Nov 2005. Nothing much is happening at present. As you are in Australia, it will pay dividends for you to be the Authorised Recipient between your parents and the POPC.
Please stay in touch and I will send you any further news as it arises. At the moment, I suspect Mum won't get a CO till about August, but it only takes 203 months after that.
If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask. If I don't know the answer, I'll tell you and then help you to look for it.
Cheers
Gill
